Traffic Stopped On Coleman Bridge

YORK — Lift malfunctions led to three lengthy delays, one on Monday and two on Wednesday.

Drivers crossing the Coleman Bridge Wednesday morning felt repercussions from Monday's bridge malfunction as they were once again left idling for more than half an hour, but twice this time.

Two bridge lifts scheduled for Wednesday morning -- at 9:30 and 10:30 -- were intended to ensure repairs made since Monday corrected the problem.

The 9:30 a.m. bridge opening lasted 45 minutes, backing up traffic on both sides of the York River. The 10:30 a.m. test opening lasted until 11:05 a.m., said Leah Bott, a Virginia Department of Transportation spokeswoman.

The morning lifts were to test repaired bridge mechanisms that malfunctioned on Monday, Bott said.

VDOT engineers believe Monday's 1 p.m. incident, in which personnel struggled to get the bridge open for an approaching ship, was caused by loose bolts in the motor. The bridge was reopened to traffic after about 40 minutes to alleviate the back up that was occurring on both sides of Route 17. A second afternoon attempt on Monday to open the bridge was successful.

"As the whole process is happening, they are looking at everything very closely to make sure they don't see any problems," Bott said. *